In Ancient Albemarle by Catherine Albertson

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Title: In Ancient Albemarle

Author: Catherine Albertson

Illustrator: Pugh Mabel

Release Date: June 16, 2008 [EBook #25805]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

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OLD FLOAT BRIDGE ACROSS THE PERQUIMANS RIVER

IN ANCIENT ALBEMARLE

By Catherine Albertson

PUBLISHED BY THE

NORTH CAROLINA SOCIETY DAUGHTERS OF THE REVOLUTION

ILLUSTRATED FROM DRAWINGS BY

MABEL PUGH

RALEIGH

COMMERCIAL PRINTING COMPANY

1914

Copyright, 1914

BY

Catherine Albertson

DEDICATION

To

Mary Hilliard Hinton

State Regent Daughters of the Revolution

without whose aid and encouragement

these chapters would never

have been written

—C.A.

THE PERQUIMANS RIVER

From the Great Swamp's mysterious depths,
Where wild beasts lurk and strange winds sough;
From ancient forests dense and dark,
Where gray moss wreathes the cypress bough;
'Mid marshes green with flowers starred,
Through fens where reeds and rushes sway,
Past fertile fields of waving grain,
Down to the sea I take my way.

The wild swan floats upon my breast;
The sea-gulls to my waters sink;
And stealing to my low green shores,
The timid deer oft stoops to drink.
The yellow jessamine's golden bells
Ring on my banks their fairy chime;
And tall flag lilies bow and bend,
To the low music keeping time.

Between my narrow, winding banks,
For many a mile I dream along
'Mid silence deep, unbroken save
By rustling reed, or wild bird's song;
Or murmuring of my shadowed waves
Beneath the feathery cypress trees,
Or pines, responsive to the breath
Of winds that breathe sea memories.

So far removed seem shore and stream,
From sound and sight of mart or mill,
That Kilcokonen's painted braves
Might roam my woods and marshes still.
And still, as in the days of yore,
Ere yet the white man's sail I knew,

Upon my amber waves might skim
The Indian maiden's light canoe.

Thus, half asleep, I dream along,
Till low at first, and far away,
Then louder, more insistent, calls
A voice my heart would fain obey.
And by a force resistless drawn,
The narrow banks that fetter me
I thrust apart, and onward sweep
In quiet strength toward the sea.

I leave my marshes and my fens;
I dream no more upon my way;
But forward press, a river grown,
In the great world my part to play.
Upon my wide and ample breast,
The white-winged boats go hurrying by;
And on my banks the whirring wheels
Of busy mills hum ceaselessly.

And sharing man's incessant toil,
I journey ever onward down,
With many a lovely sister stream,
With all the waters of the Sound,
To join the sea, whose billows break,
In silver spray, in wild uproar,
Upon the golden bars that guard
The lonely Carolina shore.

CONTENTS

I. Wikacome in Weapomeiok, the Home of George Durant
II. The First Albemarle Assembly—Hall's Creek, near Nixonton
III. Enfield Farm—Where the Culpeper Rebellion Began
IV. The Hecklefield Farm
V. Colonial Days in Church and School on Little River, Pasquotank County
VI. The Haunts of Blackbeard
VII. The Old Brick House—a True History of the Historic Dwelling Reputed to be the Home of the Famous

Pirate

VIII. "Elmwood," the Old Swann Homestead In Pasquotank County

IX. Pasquotank in Colonial Wars
X. Pasquotank in Colonial Wars—"The War of Jenkins' Ear"
XI. A Soldier of the Revolution—The Story of a Pasquotank Boy Who Followed Washington
XII. General Isaac Gregory, a Revolutionary Officer of Pasquotank-Camden
XIII. Perquimans County—"Land of Beautiful Women," and the Colonial Town of Hertford
XIV. Currituck, the Haunt of the Wild Fowl
XV. Edenton in the Revolution

ILLUSTRATIONS

Old Float Bridge Across the Perquimans River

"The Old Brick House," on Pasquotank River

Fairfax, the Home of General Isaac Gregory

The Eagle Tavern, Hertford

The Cupola House, Edenton

IN ANCIENT ALBEMARLE

CHAPTER I

WIKACOME IN WEAPOMEIOK, THE HOME OF GEORGE DURANT

In Perquimans County, North Carolina, there lies between the beautiful Perquimans River on the west, and her fair and
placid sister, the Katoline or Little River, on the east, a lovely strip of land to which the red man in days long gone, gave
the name of Wikacome. The broad sound whose tawny waters wash the southern shores of this peninsula, as well as all
that tract of land lying between the Chowan River and the Atlantic Ocean, were known to the primitive dwellers in that
region as Weapomeiok.

Not until George Durant came into Carolina, and following him a thin stream of settlers that finally overflowed the
surrounding country, did the beautiful Indian names give place to those by which they are now known. Then Wikacome
became the familiar Durant's Neck, and the waters of Weapomeiok and the territory known to the aborigines by the
same name, changed to the historic cognomen of Albemarle.

George Durant and Samuel Pricklove were the first of the Anglo-Saxon race to establish a permanent settlement in
Wikacome, though they were not the first Englishmen whose eyes had rested upon its virgin forests and fair green
meadows, for in the early spring of 1586 Ralph Lane, who had been sent with Sir Richard Grenville by Sir Walter
Raleigh to colonize Roanoke Island, set out with fourteen comrades from that place on an exploring expedition, hoping
to find the golden "Will-o'-the-Wisp," which led so many English adventurers of the day to seek their fortunes in the
New World.

As far as the Roanoke River sailed the bold explorer and his comrades, among whom were Philip Amadas and the
historian Hakluyt. To the south as far as Craven County they pushed their little boat, and northward to the shores of
Chesapeake Bay. In the course of their journey they touched at Chepanock, an Indian village lying at the extremity of
Durant's Neck. And Lane relates that on his return trip he stopped again at that point to secure a supply of provisions,
and to fish in the sound.

It was Easter morning, 1586, when Lane and his hardy sailors, worn out from their rough voyage down the Chowan
and up the tawny waters of the sound, sailed into the quiet harbor of the Katoline River. Half starved, for the hostile
tribes of the Mangoaks on the Chowan River, after being repulsed in an attack upon the strangers, had refused to sell
them food, Lane and his men, for two days without means of staying their hunger, hoped to buy from the Indians of
Weapomeiok the provisions so sorely needed.

But when the little band of explorers rowed their small craft to the shore, and set out in search of corn and meat, they
found the wigwams of Chepanock deserted, and no sign of the red men. The Indians doubtless had been alarmed at the
sight of the strangers when they first stopped at the village, and had fled from their homes to the interior of the country.

No corn nor meal could Lane procure, but the weirs were full of fish, and the men were able to satisfy their hunger, and
having rested at Chepanock that night they returned to Roanoke Island next morning. When the plash of their oars died
away in the distance, the waters of the Katoline and the northern shores of Weapomeiok knew the white man's sails no
more until over half a century had passed away.

Lane and his colony, discouraged in their hopes of finding gold, and disheartened by the many misfortunes that had
befallen them, sailed back to England with Sir Francis Drake. Raleigh's second attempt a year later to establish a colony
on Roanoke Island ended in the pathetic story of little Virginia Dare and the "Lost Colony." Queen Elizabeth died, and
the tyrannical reign of James I came to an end. Charles I and Cromwell waged their bitter war; the Commonwealth and
Protectorate ran their brief course, and the Restoration of 1660 brought back the third of the Stuarts to the throne of
England.

During all these changes in the ownership of Carolina and her sister colonies, the red man roamed unmolested through
the forests of Wikacome and fished the weirs in the silver streams flowing into the broad waters of Weapomeiok,
unafraid of the great, white-winged boats of the pale face. These brief visits to his shores were now remembered only
when the tribes gathered around the great camp fires at night, and listened to the tales told by ancient braves and
squaws, to whom the appearance of the swift ships of the strangers now seemed only a dim, half-remembered dream.

But as the years rolled by, venturesome hunters and trappers from Virginia began to thread their way through the
tangled woods of the region lying to the south of the Chesapeake. Returning to their homes they carried with them
glowing accounts of the mild climate, the placid streams teeming with fish, the wild game and rich furs to be found in the

country through which they had wandered.

In 1630 Sir Robert Heath, to whom Charles I granted a large portion of Carolina, attempted to establish a settlement in
the territory. Later Roger Green, an English clergyman, made a similar attempt near the present town of Edenton, but
both these efforts failed. However, the spirit of discovery and adventure was now fully aroused, and by 1656 a number
of settlements had been established along the shores of the streams that flow into Albemarle Sound. Of none of these,
however, can any accurate account be given, their date and location having long been forgotten; and not until 1661 is
there any authenticated record of a permanent settlement in North Carolina.

A year or two previous to that date, George Durant, a planter from Virginia, attracted by the enthusiastic accounts he
had heard of the desirable lands to be found lying to the south, started out on an exploring expedition to see for himself
if all he had heard of the Indian land of Weapomeiok were true, intending, if the country came up to his expectations,
there to establish his home.

For nearly two years Durant journeyed through the country, and finally satisfied that the glowing accounts he had heard
were not exaggerated, he determined to bring his wife and family, his goods and chattels, into this new "Land of
Promise," and there build for himself a house to dwell in, and to clear away the forest for a plantation. The first spot
selected by him for his future home was very near the ancient Indian village of Chepanock, on the peninsula of
Wikacome, which juts out into the wide waters of Weapomeiok, and whose shores are watered by the Katoline and
the Perquimans rivers.

With the coming of George Durant to Carolina, the old Indian name Wikacome vanishes from history, and "Durant's
Neck" becomes the name by which that section is henceforth known. The sound and the region north of it, first known
as Weapomeiok, change to Albemarle; and the Katoline River soon loses its Indian designation, and is known to the
settlers who made their homes on its banks as the "Little River."

With the establishment of George Durant on the peninsula now called by his name, the connected history of North
Carolina begins. And it is a matter of pride to the citizens of the Old North State that our first settler, with a sturdy
honesty and a sense of justice shown but seldom to the red man by the pioneers in the colonies, bought from the Indian
chief, Kilcokonen "for a valuable consideration" the land on which he established his home. The deed for this tract of
land is now in the old court-house in Hertford, North Carolina, and is the earliest recorded in the history of our State.
The following is an exact copy of this ancient document:

"George Durant's Deed

from

Kilcokonen:

"Know all men these Presents that I, Kilcokonen King of the Yeopems have for a valuable
consideration of satisfaction received with ye consent of my People sold and made over and delivered
to George Durant, a Parcel of land lying and being on a river called by ye name of Perquimans, which
issueth out of the North side of the aforesaid Sound, and which land at present bears ye name of
Wecameke. Beginning at a marked oak tree which divideth this land from ye land I formerly sold
Samuel Precklove and extending easterly up ye said Sound at a point or turning of ye aforesaid
Perquimans River and so up ye east side of ye said river to a creek called Awoseake to wit, all ye
land between ye aforesaid bounds of Samuel Precklove and the said creek whence to ye head
thereof. And thence through ye woods to ye first bounds. To have and to hold ye quiet possession of
ye same to him, his heirs forever, with all rights and privileges thereto forever from me or any person
or persons whatsoever, as witness my hand this first day of March 1661.

"KILCOKONEN.

"Test: Thos Weamouth, Caleb Callaway."

Having thus fairly and justly bought his lands, as this and other deeds from Kilcokonen testify, Durant proceeded to
establish his belongings on his estate, and to take up the strenuous life of a pioneer in a new country.

And a fairer region never gladdened the eyes of men making a new home in a strange land. In the virgin forests
surrounding the settlers' homes, the crimson berried holly tree against the dark background of lofty pines brightened the
winter landscape. The opulent Southern spring flung wide the white banners of dogwood, enriched the forest aisles with
fretted gold of jessamine and scarlet of coral honeysuckle, and spread the ground with carpet of velvet moss, of rosy
azaleas and blue-eyed innocents. The wide rivers that flow in placid beauty by the wooded banks of ancient
Wikacome, formed a highway for the commerce of the settlers and a connecting link with the outer sea. And however
fierce and bold the wild creatures of those dark forests might be, the teeming fish and game of the surrounding woods
and waters kept far from the settlers' doors the wolf of want and hunger.

The fame of this fertile spot spread, and ere long George Durant was greeting many newcomers into the country.
Samuel Pricklove had preceded him into Wikacome, and later came George Catchmaid, Captain John Hecklefield and
Richard Sanderson, while later still the Blounts, the Whedbees, the Newbys, Harveys and Skinners, names still
prominent in Albemarle, came into the neighborhood and settled throughout Perquimans County.

At the homes of the planters on Durant's Neck the public business of the Albemarle Colony was for many years
transacted. Courts were held, councils convened, and assemblies called, while from the wharves of the planters on Little
River and the Perquimans, white-sailed vessels carried the produce of the rich fields and dense forests to New England,
to the West Indies and to the mother country.

Many of the most interesting events in the early history of Albemarle occurred on Durant's Neck. The Culpeper
Rebellion, of which George Durant and John Culpeper were among the leaders, began in Pasquotank, but reached its
culmination in Durant's home on Little River. There, also, Thomas Miller was imprisoned for a time, and there the
leaders of the rebellion organized a new people's government, the first in the New World absolutely independent of
Proprietors, Parliament and King. At Hecklefield's home on Little River, the plantation adjoining Durant's, the Assembly
of 1708 met to investigate the Cary-Glover question and to decide which of those two claimants to the gubernatorial
chair had rightful authority to occupy that exalted seat. There also George Eden was sworn in as ruler of North Carolina
under the Proprietors; and there the death of Queen Anne was announced to the Governor's Council, and George I
was formally proclaimed true and lawful sovereign of Carolina.

A prominent meeting place for the courts, councils and assemblies in Colonial Albemarle was the home of Captain
Richard Sanderson in the Little River settlement on Durant's Neck. Of the many notable events that occurred at the
home of this wealthy and influential planter, probably the Assembly of 1715 leads in interest and importance. The acts
passed by this Assembly were directed to be printed, but the order was evidently never carried out, as none but
manuscript copies are now extant.

Among the most important measures taken by this Assembly was one making the Church of England the established
Church of the Colony; though freedom of worship was granted to all, and the Quakers were allowed to substitute a
solemn affirmation in lieu of an oath. Other acts, necessary to the welfare of the Colony, were passed, and a revision of
all former acts was made. Edward Moseley, Speaker of the House, was of course present on this occasion, as were
Governor Eden, Thomas Byrd, of Pasquotank, Tobias Knight, of Currituck, Christopher Gale, of Chowan, and
Maurice Moore, of Perquimans.

Of all these old homes on Durant's Neck where so much of the early history of our State was made, none are now
standing; though the sites of several of these historic places are well known to the dwellers on the peninsula. When the
tide is low on Little River, the bricks of what was once the home of Governor Drummond can be seen. And an old
tombstone found in the sound, which is now used as the lower step of the side porch in a beautiful old home, on
Durant's Neck, once the property of Mr. Edward Leigh, but now owned by Mr. C.W. Grandy, of Norfolk, is said to
have once marked the grave of Seth Sothel. The inscription on the stone is now obliterated, but the original owners of
the home declared that the old inhabitants of Durant's Neck claimed that the slab at one time bore the name of this, the
most infamous of all the unworthy Governors whom the Proprietors placed over the people of Albemarle.

The site of Durant's home is well known, and until a few years ago a tombstone bearing his name, it is said, was
standing under an old sweet-gum tree on the bank of a great ditch near the sound. But the field hands in clearing the
ditch undermined the stone and covered it with earth, so it now lies hidden from view.

But though no monument now marks the resting place of our first settler, George Durant, there is no need of "storied urn
or animated bust" to keep alive in the hearts of his countrymen the memory of his name, and of the brave, fearless spirit
which made him a tower of strength to the Old North State in the struggles of her early days.

CHAPTER II

THE FIRST ALBEMARLE ASSEMBLY—HALL'S CREEK NEAR NIXONTON

In 1653 King Charles II granted to eight noblemen of his court a tract of land reaching from the northern shores of
Albemarle Sound to St. John's River in Florida, and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. A small strip
extending from the north shore of the Albemarle Sound to the southern boundary of Virginia was not included in this
grant, but nevertheless the Lords Proprietors, of whom Governor Berkeley, of Virginia, was one, assumed control over
this section; and in 1663 these noblemen authorized Berkeley to appoint a governor to rule over this territory, whose
ownership was a disputed question for several years.

In 1665 the Albemarle region, as it came to be called, comprising the four ancient counties of Currituck, Pasquotank,
Perquimans and Chowan, had become very valuable on account of the rich plantations established therein by such men
as George Durant, of Perquimans, and Valentine Byrd, of Pasquotank; and the Lords Proprietors, as the owners of the
Carolinas were called, begged the king to include the above-named strip of land in their grant. This the king did,
ignorant of the vast extent of the territory which he had already bestowed upon the Lords.

William Drummond, whom Berkeley, of Virginia, had appointed to govern this Albemarle country, came into Carolina
in 1664, and assumed the reins of government. To assist him in his arduous duties, the Lords authorized Berkeley to
appoint six of the most prominent men in the settlement to form what came to be known as the Governor's Council.

This body of men, with the Governor, acted for many years as the judicial department of the State, and also
corresponded to what is now the Senate Chamber in our legislative department.

That the liberty-loving pioneers in Carolina might feel that they were a self-governing people, every free man in the
settlement was to have right of membership in the General Assembly, which was to meet yearly to enact the laws. After
the Governor, Councilors, and the freemen or their deputies had passed the laws, a copy of them was to be sent to the
Lords for their consideration. Should they meet with the approval of the Proprietors, they went into effect; if not, they
were null and void.

In the fall of 1664, Governor Drummond began organizing the government of his new province; and on February 6,
1665, the "Grand Assembly of Albemarle," as these early law-makers styled themselves, met to frame a set of laws for
this Albemarle Colony. The place chosen for the meeting of this first legislative body ever assembled in our State, was a
little knoll overlooking Hall's Creek in Pasquotank County, about a mile from Nixonton, a small town which was
chartered nearly a hundred years later.

No record of the names of these hardy settlers who were present at this Grand Assembly has been handed down to us;
but on such an important occasion we may be sure that all the prominent men in the Albemarle region who could attend
would make it a point to do so.

George Drummond and his secretary, Thomas Woodward, were surely there; George Durant, Samuel Pricklove, John
Harvey, all owners of great plantations in Perquimans, doubtless were on hand. Thomas Raulfe, Timothy Biggs,
Valentine Byrd, Solomon Poole, all large landowners in Pasquotank, must have been there; Thomas Jarvis, of
Currituck, and Thomas Pollock, of Chowan, may have represented their counties. And all—the dignified, reserved
Scotch Governor, his haughty secretary, the wealthy, influential planters and the humble farmers and hunters—must
have felt the solemnity of the occasion and recognized its importance.

We may imagine the scene: Under the spreading boughs of a lordly oak, this group of men were gathered. Around them
the dark forest stretched, the wind murmuring in the pines and fragrant with the aromatic odor of the spicy needles. At a
distance a group of red men, silent and immovable, some with bow and arrow in hand, leaning against the trees, others
sitting on the ground, gazed with wondering eyes upon the palefaces assembled for their first great pow-wow.

Down at the foot of the knoll the silver waves of the creek rippled softly against the shore; on its waters the sloops of
the planters from the settlements nearby; here and there on its bosom, an Indian canoe moored close to its shores.

As to the work accomplished by this first Albemarle Assembly, only one fact is certain, and that is the drawing up by
the members of a petition to the Lords Proprietors, begging that these settlers in Carolina should be allowed to hold
their lands on the same conditions and terms as the people of Virginia. The Lords graciously consented to this petition,
and on the 1st of May, 1668, they issued a paper known to this day as the Deed of Grant, by which land in Albemarle
was directed to be granted on the same terms as in Virginia. The deed was duly recorded in Albemarle, and was
preserved with scrupulous care.

There is a tradition in the county that the Assembly also took steps for preparing for an Indian war then threatening,
which broke out the following year, but was soon suppressed.

Doubtless other laws were enacted, such as were necessary for the settlement, though no record of them is extant. And
then, the business that called them together having been transacted, and the wheels of government set in motion, these
early law-makers returned home, to manor house and log cabin, to the care of the great plantations, to the plow, and
the wild, free life of the hunter and trapper; and a new government had been born.

There seems to be no doubt in the minds of such historians as Colonel Saunders, Captain Ashe, and President D.H.
Hill, that the first Albemarle Assembly did convene in the early spring of 1665. As for the day and month, tradition
alone is our authority. An old almanac of H.D. Turner's gives the date as February 6th, and in default of any more
certain date, this was inscribed upon the tablet which the Sir Walter Raleigh Chapter Daughters of the Revolution have
erected at Hall's Creek Church.

As to the statement that the place marked by the tablet was the scene of the meeting of our first assemblymen, tradition
again is responsible. But such authorities as Captain Ashe, and various members of the State Historical Commission,
accept the tradition as a fact. And all old residents of Nixonton assert that their fathers and grandfathers handed the
story down to them.

An extract from a letter from Captain Ashe, author of Ashe's History of North Carolina, to the Regent of the local
Chapter Daughters of the Revolution may be of interest here:

"Yesterday I came across in the library at Washington, this entry, made by the late Mrs. Frances Hill, widow of
Secretary of the State William Hill: 'I was born in Nixonton March 14, 1789. Nixonton is a small town one mile from
Hall's Creek, and on a little rise of ground from the bridge stood the big oak, where the first settlers of our county held
their assembly.'"

Other documents in possession of the Regent of our local Chapter Daughters of the Revolution go to show that the
place and date as named on the tablet at Hall's Creek are authentic, and that Pasquotank County may claim with truth
the honor of having been the scene of the first meeting of the Grand Assembly of Albemarle.

CHAPTER III

ENFIELD FARM—WHERE THE CULPEPER REBELLION BEGAN

Some two or three miles south of Elizabeth City on the banks of the Pasquotank River, just where that lovely stream
suddenly broadens out into a wide and beautiful expanse, lies the old plantation known in our county from earliest days
as Enfield Farm, sometimes Winfield.

It is hard to trace the original owners of the plantation, but the farm is probably part of the original patent granted in
1663 by Sir William Berkeley, one of the Lords Proprietors, to Mr. Thomas Relfe, "on account of his bringing into the
colony fifteen persons and paying on St. Michael's Day, the 29th of September, one shilling for every acre of land."

On this plantation, close to the river shore, was erected about 1670, according to our local tradition, the home of the
planter, two rooms of which are still standing and in good preservation. Possibly "Thomas Relfe, Gentleman," as he is
styled in the Colonial Records, was the builder of this relic of bygone days, whose massive brick walls and stout timbers
have for so long defied the onslaughts of time.

Many are the stories, legendary and historical, that have gathered around this ancient building. Among the most
interesting of the latter is that connected with the Culpeper Rebellion, an event as important in North Carolina history as
Bacon's Rebellion is in the history of Virginia.

The cause of Culpeper's Rebellion dates back to the passing of the navigation act by Cromwell's Parliament, when that
vigorous ruler held sway in England and over the American colonies. This act, later broadened and amended, finally
prohibited the colonists not only from importing goods from Europe unless they were shipped from England, but
forbade the use of any but English vessels in the carrying trade; and finally declared that inter-colonial trade should
cease, and that England alone should be the market for the buying and selling of goods on the part of the Americans.
Naturally the colonies objected to such a selfish restriction of their trade, and naturally there was much smuggling
carried on, wherever and whenever this avoidance of the navigation acts could be made in safety.

To none of these thirteen colonies were these laws more injurious than to the infant settlement on the northern shores of
Albemarle Sound in Carolina. The sand bars along the coast prevented the establishment of a seaport from whence
trade could be carried on with the mother country. The large, English-built vessels could not pass through the shallow
inlets that connect the Atlantic with the Carolina inland waterways. To have strictly obeyed the laws passed by the
British Parliament would have been the death blow to the commerce and to the prosperity of the Albemarle settlement.
So, for about fifteen years after George Durant bought his tract of land on Durant's Neck from Kilcokonen, the great
chief of the Yeopims, the planters in Albemarle had paid but little attention to the trade laws. The Proprietors appointed
no customs collectors in the little colony, and had not considered it worth while to interfere with the trade which the
shrewd New Englanders had built up in Carolina.

Enterprising Yankee shipbuilders, realizing their opportunity, constructed staunch little vessels which could weather the
seas, sail over to Europe, load up with goods necessary to the planter, return and glide down the coast till they found an
opening between the dreaded bars, then, slipping from sound to sound, carry to the planters in the Albemarle region the
cargoes for which they were waiting.

Another law requiring payment of an export tax on tobacco, then the principal crop of the Albemarle sections, as it was
of Virginia, was evaded for many years by the settlers in this region. Governors Drummond and Stevens, and John
Judkins, president of the council, must have known of this disregard of the laws, both on the part of the Yankee
shippers and the Albemarle planters. But realizing that too strict an adherence to England's trade laws would mean ruin
to the colonists, these officers were conveniently blind to the illegal proceedings of their people.

But after the organization of the board of trade in London, of which four of the Proprietors were members, the rulers of
Carolina determined to enforce the laws more strictly among their subjects in far-away Carolina. So Timothy Biggs, of
the Little River Settlement, was appointed surveyor of customs, and Valentine Byrd, of Pasquotank, collector of
customs, with orders to enforce the navigation acts and other trade laws, so long disregarded.

There was violent opposition to this decision of the Lords, as was to have been expected; but finally the settlers were
persuaded to allow the officers to perform their duty. Valentine Byrd, himself, one of the wealthiest and most influential
men in Albemarle, was by no means rigid or exacting in collecting the tobacco tax; and for several years longer, though
the laws were ostensibly observed, numerous ways were found to evade them. The colonists, however, were by no
means satisfied; for though they were successful in avoiding a strict adherence to the laws, and in continuing their trade
with New England, still the fact that the hated acts were in force at all, was to them a thorn in the flesh.

Matters soon reached a crisis, and the smouldering feeling of resentment against the Proprietors broke out into open
rebellion. In 1676 the Lords appointed Thomas Eastchurch Governor of Albemarle and Thomas Miller collector of
customs for that settlement. Both of these men, who were then in London, had previously lived in Albemarle and had
incurred the enmity of some of the leading men in the settlement, Eastchurch especially being in bad repute among the
planters.

In 1677, Eastchurch and Miller departed from London to take up their duties in Carolina. Stopping at the Island of
Nevis on their way over, Eastchurch became enamored of the charms (and the fortune) of a fair Creole who there
abode, and dallied on the island until he succeeded in winning the lady's hand. Miller, whom Eastchurch appointed his
deputy in Carolina, continued on his way alone. When he reached Albemarle, the people received him kindly and
allowed him to fill Eastchurch's place. But no sooner had he assumed the reins of government than he began a rigid
enforcement of the trade and navigation laws. Of course the planters resented his activity in this direction, and most
bitterly did they resent his compelling a strict payment of the tobacco tax. Possibly, however, no open rebellion would
have occurred, had not Miller proceeded to high-handed and arbitrary deeds, making himself so obnoxious to the
people that finally they were wrought up to such an inflammable state of mind that only a spark was needed to light the
flames of revolution.

And that spark was kindled in December, 1677, when Captain Zachary Gilliam, a shrewd New England shipmaster,
came into the colony in his trig little vessel, "The Carolina," bringing with him, besides the supplies needed by the
planters for the winter days at hand, ammunition and firearms which a threatened Indian uprising made necessary for the
safety of the settlers' homes.

On board the "Carolina" was George Durant, the first settler in the colony, and the acknowledged leader in public
affairs in Albemarle. He had been over to England to consult the Lords Proprietors concerning matters relating to the
colony, and was returning to his home on Durant's Neck.

Through the inlet at Ocracoke the "Carolina" slipped, over the broad waters of Pamlico Sound, past Roanoke Island,
home of Virginia Dare, and into Albemarle Sound. Then up the blue waters of the Pasquotank she sailed, with "Jack
ancient flag and pennant flying," as Miller indignantly relates, till she came to anchor at Captain Crawford's landing, just
off the shore from Enfield Farm.

Gladly did the bluff captain and the jovial planter row ashore from their sea-tossed berths. Many were the friendly
greetings extended them, both prime favorites among the settlers, who came hurrying down to Enfield when the news of
the "Carolina's" arrival spread through the community. Eager questions assailed them on every side concerning news of
loved ones in the mother country; and a busy day did Captain Gilliam put in, chaffering and bargaining with the planters
who anxiously surrounded him in quest of long needed supplies.

Durant, though doubtless impatient to proceed as quickly as possible to his home and family in Perquimans,
nevertheless spent the day pleasantly enough talking to his brother planters, Valentine Byrd, Samuel Pricklove, and
others. All was going merrily as a marriage bell when suddenly Deputy Governor Miller appeared on the scene,
accused Gilliam of having contraband goods on board, and of having evaded the export tax on tobacco when he sailed
out of port with his cargo a year before. A violent altercation arose, in which the planters, with few exceptions, sided
with Gilliam, who indignantly (if not quite truthfully) denied the charges brought against him.

Miller at last withdrew, muttering imprecations and threats against Gilliam; but about 10 o'clock that night he returned
with several government officials, boarded the "Carolina" and attempted to arrest both Gilliam and Durant. The planters,
among whom were Valentine Byrd, Captain Crawford, Captain Jenkins and John Culpeper, hearing of the disturbance,
anxious for the safety of their friends, and fearing lest Gilliam should sail away before they had concluded their
purchases, came hurrying in hot haste to the rescue. Rowing swiftly out to the little vessel, they quickly turned the tables
on the Governor and his officials; and to their indignant surprise, Miller and his men found themselves prisoners in the
hands of the rebels. Then the insurgents, with John Culpeper, now the acknowledged leader of the revolt, at their head,
rowed ashore to the landing with their captives; and in the old house at Enfield, on a bluff near the bank of the river—so
goes our local tradition—the angry and astonished Governor was imprisoned.

Then the revolutionists proceeded to "Little River Poynte," probably the settlement which afterwards grew into the town
of Nixonton, and seized Timothy Biggs, the surveyor and deputy collector of customs, who had been wringing the
tobacco tax from the farmers. Then breaking open the chests and the locks, they found and took possession of Miller's
commission as collector of customs and returned to Enfield, where they locked Biggs up with Miller in Captain
Crawford's house.

For two weeks the deputy governor and the deputy collector were kept close prisoners at Enfield. The revolutionists in
the meanwhile drew up a document known as "The Remonstrance of the Inhabitants of Pasquotank," in which they
stated the grievances that had led them to take this high-handed manner of circumventing Miller and Biggs in their
tyrannical proceedings. This "remonstrance" was sent to the precincts of Currituck, Perquimans and Chowan; and the
planters, following the example of their neighbors in Pasquotank, rose in insurrection against the other collectors of the
hated customs and export tax, and arrested and deposed the collectors.

At the end of a fortnight, the insurgents decided to take Miller and Biggs to George Durant's home in Durant's Neck.
So the prisoners were taken on board one of the planter's vessels; and down the Pasquotank, into the sound, and a
short distance up Little River, the rebels sailed, accompanied by several vessels filled with armed men. As they passed
the "Carolina," that saucy little ship, which as Miller afterwards indignantly reported to the Lords Proprietors, "had in all
these confusions rid with Jack Ensign Flag and Pennon flying," just off the shore from Enfield, saluted Culpeper, Durant
and their companions by firing three of her guns.

Arrived at Durant's home, where some seventy prominent men of the colony had assembled, the revolutionists

proceeded to establish a government of their own. John Jenkins was appointed governor, an assembly of eighteen men
was elected, and a court convened before which Miller and Biggs were brought for trial on a charge of treason. But
before the trial was ended, Governor Eastchurch, who had arrived in Virginia while these affairs were taking place, sent
a proclamation to the insurgents commanding them to disperse and return to their homes. This the bold planters refused
to do, and in further defiance of Eastchurch, the new officials sent an armed force to prevent his coming into the colony.

Eastchurch appealed to Virginia to help him establish his authority in Carolina; but while he was collecting forces for this
purpose he fell ill and died. Durant, Culpeper, Byrd and their comrades were now masters in Albemarle.

The interrupted trials were never completed. Biggs managed to escape and made his way to England. Miller was kept a
prisoner for two years in a little log cabin built for the purpose at the upper end of Pasquotank, near where the old brick
house now stands. In two years' time Miller also contrived to escape, and found his way back to the mother country.

For ten years the Albemarle colony prospered under the wise and prudent management of the officers, whom the
people had put in charge of affairs without leave or license from lord or king. But finally Culpeper and Durant decided
of their own accord to give up their authority and restore the management of affairs to the Proprietors. An amicable
settlement was arranged with these owners of Albemarle, who, realizing the wrongs the settlers had suffered at the
hands of Miller and his associates, made no attempt to punish the leaders of the rebellion. John Harvey was quietly
installed as temporary governor until Seth Sothel, one of the Proprietors, should come to take up the reins of
government himself.

So at Enfield Farm, now the property of one of Pasquotank's most successful farmers and business men, Mr. Jeptha
Winslow, began a disturbance which culminated a hundred years later in the Revolutionary War; and here, in embryo
form, in 1677, was the beginning of our republic—"a government of the people, for the people, by the people."

CHAPTER IV

THE HECKLEFIELD FARM

Of the old Hecklefield house on Little River in Perquimans County, mentioned so often in the Colonial Records as the
place of meeting for the Governor's Council, the General Court, and on one notable occasion, as the legislative hall of
the Grand Assembly of Albemarle, not one stick or stone is left standing to-day. Only a few bricks where the great
chimney once stood now remain, to suggest to the imagination the hospitable hearth around whose blazing logs the
Governor and his colleagues, the Chief Justice and his associates, and the Speaker of the Assembly and his fellow
representatives used to gather, when the old home was the scene of the public meetings of the Albemarle Colony.

The Hecklefield home was located on Durant's Neck on the plantation adjoining the tract of land purchased by George
Durant from Kilcokonen, the great chief of the Yeopims. Though no one now living remembers the ancient building, yet
the residents of Durant's Neck to-day, many of whom are the descendants of the early settlers in that region, confidently
point out the site of Captain Hecklefield's house, and with one accord agree to its location, "about three hundred yards
to the north of the main Durant's Neck road, at the foot of the late Calvin Humphries' Lane."

An old sycamore tree, whose great girth gives evidence of the centuries it has seen, stands by the side of the road at the
entrance to the lane. Its mottled trunk and wide spreading branches are one of the landmarks of the region. And
beneath its sheltering boughs, Durant and Catchmaid, Pricklove and Governor Drummond himself, who, tradition
claims, was one of the residents of Durant's Neck, may often have met to talk over the affairs of the infant settlement.
Governor Hyde and Chief Justice Gale have doubtless often hailed with relief the glistening white branches and broad
green leaves of the old tree, whose outlines had grown familiar through many a journey to Hecklefield's home on
business of state.

No description of the house is now extant. But that the building must have been, for those days, large and commodious,
is evident from the fact that so often beneath its roof the leading men of the colony gathered to transact affairs of public
interest. On no less than twenty occasions did executive, judicial and legislative officers assemble at Captain
Hecklefield's to perform their various duties. That a private home was chosen as the scene of these gatherings arose
from the fact that for over forty years after the first recorded settlement in North Carolina, no town had been founded
within her borders. Therefore no public building of any kind, court-house or capitol, had been erected, and the Council,
the Assembly and the Court were held at the homes of those planters, whose houses were large enough to
accommodate such assemblies.

Local tradition tells us that the first court ever held in our State was convened under a great beech still standing on Flatty
Creek, an arm of the broad Pasquotank, in Pasquotank County. But no records of this court can be found, nor does
tradition tell whether the judge and advocates, plaintiffs and defendants, witnesses and jury assembled beneath the
branches of that ancient tree, still strong and sturdy, came in answer to the call for the Palatine Court, the General
Court, or the more frequently assembled Precinct Court.

The first Albemarle Assembly in 1665, was also held out in the open, the verdant foliage of another historic tree for

roof, the soft moss for carpet. But by 1670 the homes of the planters were being built of sufficient size to accommodate
these public meetings; and from that time until Edenton was founded and became the seat of government, we find these
private homes being used for public gatherings.

Of Captain John Hecklefield himself, though his name appears very frequently in the Colonial Records from 1702 until
1717, but little is known. Of his ancestry nothing can be ascertained, nor do we know how or when he came into
Albemarle. It is not even certain that he owned the home assigned as his, for no record of lands bought by him can be
found in the records of Perquimans County. But that he must have been a man of high social standing and of great
weight in the community is evident from the fact that he was a deputy of the Lords Proprietors, and thus became ex
officio one of the seven Associate Justices of the General Court. The fact also that his home was so often selected for
the meeting of the General Court, a body which in colonial days corresponded very closely to our modern Supreme
Court; that the Governor's Council of which he, as a deputy for one of the Lords, was a member, and, that on one
occasion, the Albemarle Assembly was called to meet at his home, fixes his standing in the community.

The first mention made of Captain Hecklefield is found in Vol. I of the Colonial Records, where the following notice is
inscribed: "At a General Court held at ye house of Captain John Hecklefield in Little River, Oct. 27, 1702. Being
present the Hon. Samuel Swann, Esq., the Hon. William Glover, Esq., Jno. Hawkins, Esq."

From that day until 1717, we find many instances of these public gatherings at Captain Hecklefield's home. The most
prominent men in the Albemarle Colony were often there assembled. To the sessions of the General Court came
Edward Moseley, the Justice of the Court, leader of the Cary faction in the Glover-Cary disturbance of 1708, Chief
Commissioner for North Carolina when the boundary line between Virginia and Carolina was established, Speaker of
the Assembly for four years, master of plantations and many slaves, and withal a very courteous gentleman and learned
scholar. Christopher Gale, first judicial officer in Carolina to receive the commission as Chief Justice, in wig and silken
gown, upheld the majesty of the law at the sessions of the General Court, assisted by his confréres, John Porter,
Thomas Symonds, and John Blount.

At the first Council held at Captain Hecklefield's, July 4, 1712, we find among the dignitaries assembled on that
occasion, Edward Hyde, first Governor of North Carolina, as separate and distinct from South Carolina, and first
cousin of Queen Anne. This lordly gentleman commanded "most awful respect," and doubtless received it from planter
and farmer. With him came Thomas Pollock, leader of the Glover faction, owner of 55,000 acres of land, numerous
flocks of sheep and herds of cattle and of many vessels trading with the New England and West Indian ports, a
merchant prince of colonial days, and destined to become twice acting Governor of North Carolina.

Some years later, at a meeting of the Council in April, 1714, Charles Eden, lately appointed by the Proprietors to
succeed Hyde, who had died of yellow fever during the trouble with the Tuscaroras, took the oath of office at Captain
Hecklefield's home, and became Governor of North Carolina. Among the members of the Council present on this
occasion were Colonel Thomas Byrd, Nathan Chevin, and William Reed, all prominent men in Pasquotank, and the
two former, leading churchmen of that county, and active members of the vestry of St. John's Parish. Tobias Knight was
also there, a wealthy resident of Bath then, though he too had formerly lived in Pasquotank. Knight was later to win
notoriety as a friend and colleague of Teach, the pirate. And Governor Eden himself was later accused of collusion with
Blackbeard, though no sufficient proof could be found to bring him to trial.

By what means of locomotion these high dignitaries of the colony found their way to Durant's Neck, we can only
conjecture. Possibly a coach and four may have borne Governor Eden and Governor Hyde the long journey from
Chowan and Bath to Hecklefield's door. Possibly Judge and advocate, members of the Assembly and councilors,
preferred to make the trip on horseback, breaking the journey by frequent stops at the homes of the planters in the
districts through which they traveled, meeting along the road friends and acquaintances bound on the same errand to the
same destination. And as the cavalcade increased in numbers as it drew nearer the end of the journey, doubtless the
hilarity of the travelers increased; and by the time the old sycamore was sighted, it was a gay, though weary, procession
that turned into the lane and passed beneath its branches, down to where the old house stood near the banks of the
river.

More probably, however, the members of Council, Court or Assembly, met at some wharf in their various precincts,
and embarking on the swift sloops of the great planter, made the trip to Durant's Neck by water. Down the Pamlico,
Chowan, Perquimans and Pasquotank the white-sailed vessels bore their passengers into Albemarle Sound and a short
distance up Little River; then disembarking at the Hecklefield Landing, where the hospitable host of the occasion was
doubtless waiting to receive the travelers, they made their way with many a friendly interchange of gossip and jest to the
great house, standing back from the river beneath the arching branches of the sheltering sycamores.

One of the most interesting and important of all the public gatherings convened at the Hecklefield home was the meeting
of the Assembly on October 11, 1708, to decide which of the two claimants of the office of President of the Council, or
Deputy Governor of North Carolina, should have just right to that office. The two rival claimants were Thomas Cary, of
the precinct of Pamlico, and William Glover, of Pasquotank. To understand the situation which necessitated the calling
of a special session of the Assembly to settle the dispute between the two men, it may be well to review the ev...